Pages

Thursday, March 09, 2006

In Passing...Fell to Frankenstein

This was really one of the biggest weeks in comics in awhile for me (in a time when two or three issues is the norm. The debut of American Virgin, the conclusions of The Pulse and Mister Miracle, and a lot of other floppies.

Ultimate Spider-man #91 - Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley just keep outdoing themselves. The dynamic between Peter and Kitty is awesome! And I'm not saying that just because I'm partial toward Kitty Pryde - it just works! Patrick was saying, and I agree, that he hopes this is lasting, that Peter doesn't end up just going back to Mary Jane because it's what the fanboys want. Mary Jane's in a place where she just needs to be herself (as her proclaiming "I'm going to get that Peter Parker if it's the last thing I do" (a few issues back) illustrates). She needs someone else to come into her life, or she needs to just become strong on her own two feet. And Bagley's art just seems to improve with every issue. There are some really pretty panels in this issue. Best comic of the week. 9.7/10

Fell #4 - Detective Fell investigates a floater that washes up on Snowtown's docks, despite the resistance he encounters from the rest of the force. Fell sees this investigation as important because of the message it sends to the criminals committing such crimes, and goes to great lengths to accomplish his goal. This issue is a real turning point for the character, as we see Snowtown affecting Fell, possibly changing him in ways he wasn't expecting. 7.8/10

Fables #47 - "The Ballad of Rodney and June" concludes as Rodney and June strive to overcome all odds for the sake of their love. I wasn't much of a fan of the guest penciller Jim Fern's art (or the storybook quality he presented the events in), nor the story, this time around. Despite its decent conclusion, I'll be happy for the next story arc and Buckingham's return to the title. 6.9/10

Seven Soldiers: Mister Miracle #4 (of 4) - Shilo battles Omega after making his ultimate escape, outsmarting the void and overcoming the odds. This was a very strange issue, which wasn't surprising in the wake of the previous offerings, and didn't quite live up to the awesomeness of the last issue. Actually, it didn't even come close. This mini-series had one great issue going for it, but the rest was sadly quite underwhelming compared to the other Seven Soldiers titles. I'm not sorry to see this one come to an end. 6.9/10

Seven Soldiers: Frankenstein #3 (of 4) - And on the flipside of the Seven Soldiers saga, there's Frankenstein which boasts excitement and oozes creativity with every issue. I mean, this big undead guy fighting a bunch of furry little animals holding eyeballs (just look at that cover!) couldn't get much better. And then there's the special guest appearance from a very special lady and it was so obvious (practically staring us in the face) that it just shows us what a genius Morrison is with this sort of storytelling. A great premise to the issue, with really creepy imagery and awesome art by Doug Mahke - simply brilliant. 9.5/10The Pulse review forthcoming!